The Backside of the Rose
by GoldenStrike
Summary: This is the story of Team 7 and their adventures. Main characters are Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. This is an adventure story with lots of twists and turns, so please check it out! Starts from childhood, progresses to as far as I feel like. Chapter 9 is up
1. Setting the Stage

**The Backside of the Rose Chapter 1**

A tired Sakura arose from her slumber on a bright and sunny Sunday. Rubbing her eyes, she groaned. Time to get up.

_Aw man, weeding day today…_

Rising out of bed, and making it, she moped over to the bathroom, to brush her teeth, and all the necessary little tasks to freshen up. Exiting, she went to her wardrobe and threw on a blue skirt and a collared shirt. She wore sandals too, with her favorite necklace with a rose in the center.

Sakura went downstairs, and grabbed a bagel to munch on. Sitting down, her thought began to wander.

_Sasuke...I wonder how you're doing..._ She managed a grin.

Getting to work was difficult, as she thought Sasuke the whole time. The boy must've had a spell on her; Sasuke was all she thought about.

So as she pulled out weed after weed, she came across a pretty- No, a beautiful rose. It had to be the prettiest flower she'd ever seen, and would ever see.

_Sasuke...This rose is like you, more beautiful than everyone else... It almost looks like my necklace…_

"Ouch!" Sakura exclaimed, as the rose poked her thumb. Droplets of blood formed on it, and she placed her thumb in her mouth to ease the pain.

_The backside of the rose... This doesn't seem to fit Sasuke...He's kind, and caring, and beautiful. No nasty side in him..._

Right then, she felt that she heard footsteps.

'_...Sasuke?...'_ She thought to herself. _ 'No, they were too quiet to be Sasuke.'_

Sakura turned around to see a blonde-haired kid slightly shorter than her standing in front of her.

"H-Hi there! I'm Naruto! Uzumaki Naruto." The boy stammered.

_Blond, striking blond hair, and ocean blue eyes, with a trio of whiskers guarding each side of his mouth... Wait... The apple..._

"What's your name? Remember me? You gave me that apple back there." Naruto tried to jog her memory. Silence.

"I came to say thank you." Naruto proclaimed.

Sakura gaped at him, looking at his body.

_Oh my gosh...he's so skinny. I-is he malnourished?_

Looking down a bit, not enough to make Naruto notice, she remarked,

"Um yes, I'm Haruno Sakura. You bet I remember that apple!" She gave him a sudden hug, taking him off guard. He simply smiled at this.

"Here!"

"What...a coupon...to Ichikara Ramen Bar?"

"Yup!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

Sakura couldn't accept this; the boy had done enough for her.

"Naruto, is it? Look Naruto, thank you for this."

"You need this more than I do." She said, smiling softly.

Naruto seemed to understand this, and he smiled,

"Wow, you're so kind. No wonder I love you, Sakura-chan!" He was beaming.

Sakura mentally groaned. _Idiot, he ruined the moment...Wait, what! He LOVES me? _

"I'll always protect you, Sakura-chan." Silence again.

Sakura bopped him on the head. "Naruto!" she had a slight blush.

Naruto eventually piped up, "Maybe you should be a ninja with me!", as he pointed to himself, so full of confidence.

Sakura smiled at this, "Sure! I'll ask my mom about it!"

His boyish face lit up. Then, he noticed he was blushing intensely. He tried to hide his face down, but Sakura just giggled. _Gosh, you're such an idiot_, she thought to herself.

Looking at Sakura's watch, he groaned.

"Naruto, what's wrong?"

_Oh no! I'm late!_

"I have to go! Bye!" And with that, Naruto ran off.

----------

Sakura finished weeding now, so she had gone back in.

_Ah...Sasuke... I can't stop thinking about you..._

She picked up the phone, and called over to the Uchiha residence. Sasuke answered the phone.

"Hi there, this is Sasuke" the boy stated.

"Sasuke! How are you!" Sakura asked.

'_Damn I hate this game..._' Sasuke thought to himself as Itachi was beating him in a game of checkers.

"Ha-ha, it's about time you've gotten a fanclub, aniki." Itachi teased.

"Shut it." Sasuke said, muffling the phone.

"Something wrong, Sakura?" He asked, back on the line.

"No..." she paused..." Would you… um...like to get-" she was cut off by a sad Sasuke.

"Sakura, I'm sorry. I'm going to the ANBU tour today with Mother and Itachi. I won't be back until eight-o'clock.

"Maybe a different time!" He finished in a lighter tone.

"O-Oh..." Her voice trembled. "I'll see you later, I guess. B-Bye Sasuke."

"See you later, Sakura"

Sasuke put down the phone, and groaned. _She hates me; Maybe I should talk mom and Itachi out of this. Going with her wouldn't be too bad, I guess._

"Alright Sasuke, back to ass-kicking." Itachi smirked, as I went over to the game, grimacing.

"Brother, I'll get you someday." Sasuke groaned.

-----------------

"Naruto!" Sandaime welcomed the boy into his office.

"Hi Old man!" Naruto piped.

Sandaime was annoyed at this statement.

"Naruto, don't call me that anymore." He said seriously.

"But…I need to tell you something, so listen up. I understand that your lifestyle is terrible."

At this, Naruto winced. He was broke, no money at all. Any job he applied for was dismissed without looking anywhere below his name.

_Damn, I should've been nicer... _Sandaime thought.

"So, Naruto, I bought you an apartment." He finished, with a smirk.

The boy stood there, looking up at his Hokage. "Why did you do this? That…was kind of you. Thanks."

"I bought it right next-door, so that you and I were never too far away. I hope you like it!"

"Hokage-sama...Thank you..." Naruto smiled.

----------------

**Author's Notes**- That was fun to write! I was at the beach today, writing this in my spiral. :3

Edit- This is redone from last summer, with a lot of changes in style. No actual content was really changed, though.


	2. Preparing for The Ninja Academy

Sandaime is The Third, Hokage-sama, and Old Man Hokage, so to clear that up .

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Chapter 2

------------

As Sandaime opened the door to Naruto's new home, the boy's heart raced.

'I can't wait to see my room! I bet my bed will be comfy, and there'll be some decent food. Maybe I can afford to live here forever!'

Sandaime turned the knob, and the door creaked open.

"What?" they both spat in unison.

Naruto gaped, and looked like he was about to cry. His eyes slowly found their way to his feet. He thoughtlessly ran out of the building, over to the stream.

'What happened?' Sandaime as he starred at the scene.

It looked like a storm had ripped the place apart. The furniture was ripped and destroyed, as the TV screen was shattered. All the cupboards were ripped off the hinges, and the refrigerator was knocked over, with ants crawling all over the place.

'They sacked his house...I'm holding a council meeting. I can't believe they'd do this... What would the Fourth have done here?'

The Third walked outside, seeing Naruto over by the river hugging his knees.

'Poor child...'

"Naruto... It's okay."

Naruto felt his head being patted.

"Come one, you can come to my place, and we'll fix up your place right up."

Naruto couldn't understand why an adult was treating him so kind. All the other adults glared at him, or attacked him. He felt his tears welling up in his eyes.

"Why are you being so nice to me? All the older people hate me."

Silence...

"What did I do wrong, old man.."

'I'm sorry…You've done nothing at all. It's what they're doing'.

"Naruto, I'm sorry, but I..." He looked at him hard.

"...can't tell you right now. It's okay though. I'll be on your side."

The Hokage gave him a Naruto-style grin.

"Let's grab dinner."

Naruto grinned, and ran off with Old Man Hokage.

- - - - - - -

"One chicken for myself, and one..."

"Pork, please!" Naruto chimed.

"...for the boy" Sarutobi finished.

"Coming right up!" Ayame replied. She helped run the raman place with her father.

After some idle conversation, some laughs, and a large burp, the raman was ready.

"So, Naruto… what do you think about becoming a ninja?"

- - - - - - - - - - -

Three days later

- - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto woke up in his new and suitable apartment, and dressed in his white Konoha t-shirt, and his navy shorts. Wolfing down a bowl of cereal, he brushed his teeth and began his day.

'I need some new clothes if I'm gonna be a ninja!'

The clothing store he needed to go to was over on the edge of town, close to the Uchiha Manor.

As he walked on the outskirts of down, he saw a boy with dark, raven colored hair on the edge of a pier.

'This looks like the Uchiha Manor, with that big pond. I wonder what that boy's doing...'

Sasuke turned around and saw Naruto. His father had just taught him the Katon: Goukakyou no jutsu.

The boy's eyes met, and consequently, the boys smiled to each other.

- - - - - - - -

Naruto eventually saw the shop, and he noticed the fine architecture.

'Looks pretty'

Naruto approached the store, and opened up the door. The clerk immediately ran over to Naruto.

"What the hell do you want, monster?", he barked.

Then, he picked up Naruto and threw him, literally, outside of the store.

"W-Wait...Mr. Hokage gave me a note to show you so I can shop here...", Naruto whimpered and handed out the note.

"Gimme that", the Clerk snapped. He looked it over, and mumbled, "Fine punk, get your shit and go."

Naruto quickly bought his stuff, consisting of a black and orange jacket, with dark pants, and blue sandals.

Paying with the money, he ran out and went home.

'565... 5-566 ... 567..." he heard a voice of a boy about his age coming from the shallow forest. He decided to investigate.

A boy with large, black eyebrows and an overgrown bowl-cut stood there, training. He wore a tanish-reddish gi.

"I...can't quit." The boy replied, as he continued his training.

Naruto awkwardly interrupted, saying, "Um, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. What's your name?"

The boy grinned, and halted his training. "Lee. Rock Lee. It's nice to meet you, Naruto."

Looking at the sun, Lee replied, "Sorry Naruto, but I have to keep training, I'll see you around!"

"Bye!"

Naruto ran off, back home. 'Pretty nice guy! He seemed to have great perseverance. I think I'd like to be like him.'

- - - - - - - -

Naruto walked into his room, and found a flyer on his window.

Dear Naruto,

Please come to the Ninja Academy on Tuesday, August 12 for the Ninja Academy entrance exam. I look forward to meeting you!

Signed, Unimo Iruka,

Ninja Academy Sensei.

- - -

Fin

- - -


	3. Naruto Spills! The arrival of Kakashi!

The Backside of the Rose

Golden Warrior

Whoa, LONG wait for this chapter XD So sorry to keep you waiting. Here it is now. I'm going to change the genre to general; the depression thing was rubbing off on me.

And, without further wait, here's the next chapter

-------

Ch. 3

-------

Iruka faked-coughed, which got each child's attention.

With a slight giggle, he began, "I bet you're all ready to know why I've brought you here." There were nearly one-hundred children packed in.

"Of course" many kids nodded at Sakura's very obvious statement.

"Ah, well, you'll be happy to hear that you've been hand-picked by our most elite ninjas, pooling from the jounins, the ANBU, and the Hokage-"

"Huh?!" Naruto exclaimed

"Naruto, please let me finish" Iruka reprimanded

"Fine", Naruto replied, groaning.

"Anyway, you've been hand-picked by our elite ninja, to become the next generations' genin, or in-training ninja."

Most kids were staring awe-struck; one even cried.

"Now, there are ninety-nine of you here, exactly, so there will be thirty-three teachers. Each of you will be teamed up with two other kids. Teams of three and an instructor will form to complete missions, which you will be paid due to completion."

Most kids nodded, or replied, 'All right'

"So, I will list off the teams…"

"TEAM SEVEN!"

This woke up Shikamaru and Naruto from their wonderful naptime-experience.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto almost fell out of his seat

"Sasuke Uchiha!"

Sasuke groaned at this.

"And, Sakura Haruno!"

Well, Sakura was split, so she nodded, feeling happy to be with Sasuke, yet terrified to be with Naruto.

The rest of the teams were called off, and Iruka instructed them to wait for their sensei to arrive with them. They were not informed of their teacher, though. So, much later after each team left, a man finally stepped in, and asked,

"Are you team seven?"

Naruto blinked, and replied with a casual "Yeah".

"I'm Kakashi Hatake, your instructor", the new man grinned.

"Dammit! About time you showed up!" Naruto yelled out.

"Sorry. See I was busy looking for a home for a mouse I found in my condo this morning, an--"

He was cut off by a fuming Naruto.

"--And save it, punk! You made us wait here for hours, so you could find a home for a stinking… rat?"

Kakashi sweat-dropped as he rubbed his head and nodded, which made the others fall over.

"Right then…" Kakashi resumed with a cough. "I'd like to learn about you guys. What're your names, hobbies, ect. You can go first, over there with the green eyes" Kakashi finished. Naruto raised an eyebrow in annoyance.

'_What a punk…_'

----------

About 7:00 P.M. at night, it was now. The foursome was huddling around a campfire and tents, just by the west gate of Konohagakure.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. I really like to impress my parents with my grades. Being a ninja is something I really want to take seriously, so I don't accept a failure, no matter how deep or shallow the failure was."

Sasuke and Naruto grinned, _'That's my Sakura-chan'_ they each thought.

"I dream of becoming an excellent medical ninja, much like Tsunade. I think what really bothers me are people who don't care at all about what they do, and sit around like someone will bail them out eventually. I also like Tai food. But, I didn't mention what I really like…"

Naruto and Kakashi raised a brow, while Sasuke groaned.

"It's…um… I really like Sasuke."

Naruto's head fell mentally, and Sasuke mentally pumped a fist.

"Thank you Sakura, now let's have this one tell us about him"

Knowing he was referred to by Kakashi, Sasuke began, "Right then. I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I'm really interested in reading mystery novels, and taking walks is something I do for a hobby. I'm fond of tomatoes in my food, and also seafood and taking a few hooks on my punching bag is something I do to cool off some steam.

The others nodded in approval, waiting for him to continue.

"My goal is to fully develop my extended family's hereditary-technique, the Sharingan. I want to be just like my brother, Itachi nii-san. Strong, handsome, and a real funny man. He's something I'd love to be"

Kakashi thought about it for a minute…

"What's a Sharingan?" Naruto asked

"It's a dojustsu, or eye-technique. In Sasuke's family's case, it's hereditary, so all of his family, or clan, has the ability to unlock the Sharingan from within." Kakashi told them. "What a Sharingan does though, is a mystery for another day."

"And I really hate loud-mouthed kids who talk shit all the time. Especially when they're really just a coward", Sasuke teased Naruto.

"Hey! You watch it, bastard!"

"What's the matter, dead-last?"

"That's enough!" Sakura yelled, and slapped them each.

Now it was Kakashi's turn to sweat-drop. After the three were finished messing around, Kakashi signaled Naruto to begin.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki." He paused for a moment, to think about what to say.

"I like food, it's really something I can talk about forever… I also really like my friends, because they're always out to help me succeed and become closer to my goals."

"Hmm? What kind of goals do you have?" Kakashi quirked.

"Oh! I've got a few." Naruto piped up, with a large grin.

Sakura and Sasuke blinked at this

"Yeah, I really want to marry a beautiful and kind woman, someone who'd never forget me, or forsake me. And they'd really be an awesome cook, and maybe a great ninja." Naruto giggled.

Sakura groaned, and slapped him again.

"What the hell is that all about? You're not someone to talk like that!" she exclaimed.

"Hehe, you've got some nerve, Sakura" Sasuke laughed. _'If only she knew…'_

"Now, let's have him finish, please" Kakashi reminded them.

"Thanks", Naruto started, "My other goal, is something I really don't share with people often, it's something people don't really tell me they want to be either. I… I want to be our next Hokage."

'_Wow, such high limits for himself, yet he's from such a terrible place, and he acts like he was never there, or he just has unlimited perseverance... Sounds a lot like you and your student, Gai…'_ Kakashi thought to himself.

"I also have one more thing to say." Naruto said in a calm, serene tone.

This caught everyone's attention, and Naruto then poked the fire with a nearby stick, a behavior to help him procrastinate saying what he needed to say next.

"I um--"Naruto was cut off.

"It's alright Naruto" Kakashi gave him a very friendly look, and Naruto really thought he had known his secret.

"Secret's out, I guess." He laughed. "Anyway…I…"

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other, and then at Naruto. "Come on, let's here it" Sasuke replied.

"…Remember the story of how the wonderful Fourth Hokage died?" Naruto asked

"Yeah, he sacrificed himself to send The Kyuubi into a seal of a newborn baby. It was…about 13 years ago, right?" Sasuke asked

"Yeah. But there's more to that." Naruto replied.

Sasuke gave him a look like he still didn't know what he meant, which was replaced by wide eyes and a slight shake…

"…You're not…that child…are you?" Sasuke asked

"Bingo" Naruto said softly, with a sad smile.

Sakura and Sasuke looked wide eyed at Naruto. This was the three-time _genin _exam failure, the one with no potential in anything, no bloodline limits or jutsus, or anything.

But, here he was, with a major demon of the highest rank sitting inside his stomach? This was a lot for the children to comprehend, although Kakashi seemed to take it…quite well, the two others noticed.

"So, that's all I've been told" Naruto explained. "Nothing else, though."

"Right then, it's almost 11:00, so I suggest you guys get some rest. Tomorrow starts boot-camp"

"WHAT?!" the young trio screamed

"Boot camp" Kakashi repeated.

--------

Once Naruto crawled into his tent, he settled down, and fell asleep in his sleeping bag.

"Hey" Naruto called out, knowing Kakashi was there.

"Hey" Kakashi replied.

A small silence followed, and Kakashi finally broke the silence.

"That was very brave of you to confess your secret, Naruto. I really respect you for doing that."

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto replied, with a yawn. It was late, now.

"I need rest, we've got a long day tomorrow, right?" Naruto asked

"Yup" Kakashi told him

----------

Fin

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Yup, chapter 4's all finished. R&R (read and review) is greatly appreciated. I'll try to get chapter 5 up a.s.a.p.

Peace out

Golden Warrior


	4. The Next Day News of training

The Backside of the Rose

Chapter 4

Hey guys! How're you doing? It's GW, back again. I've promised I'd work on it and do two-three chapters this week alone, so be prepared XD

I'd like to note that all characters are not my own, something I haven't said yet, which could get me in trouble.

-------

"Hey, Loser! Let's go, wake up." Sasuke teased, awaiting Naruto's waking moment.

"Huh?" Naruto questioned, rubbing his eyes.

"It's morning. Now, come on, get ready, we're leaving soon." Sasuke informed ever so kindly.

"…Right, give me a second, I'll be there soon." Naruto grumbled as he lay down for a moment to continue resting.

"Now, let's go!" Sasuke barked.

"Alright then, I'm coming. Sheesh…" Naruto complained.

Naruto dressed and stretched for the day, which was followed by a medium-size breakfast. Naruto passed Kakashi-sensei and Sakura on his way to go brush his teeth, and of course, wash his face. He grinned and waved to them, signaling a 'Good-morning!' to them.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was eating his breakfast, while Kakashi and Sakura came to sit with him. They sat across from him, and started eating.

Sometime about mid-way through the meal, Kakashi broke the silence, asking "Sasuke, what's with you and Naruto? Is there a rivalry between you two?" He knew there obviously was one, but he wanted to see how they thought.

Naruto happened to come by, and sat down, grabbing some food.

And, of course, Sasuke and Naruto stared each other down with sparks in between.

Sakura naturally sighed. _'Pair of inconsiderate brats, those two!_ She thought to herself.

The meal continued in silence, most all of the quarto was exhausted. Kakashi was thinking about his new training regime, and how his team would handle it. Sakura thought about her appearance, more so her face.

_Just keep telling yourself, you're NOT ugly! You have friends!_ ((1))

Sasuke was wondering when the hell Kakashi would teach him moves to counter the Sharingan, to impress his family during a sparring match.

Normally, Naruto would have thought about ramen, but he seemed slightly…_different_.

Instead, he was thinking about besting his whole team. He felt like showing everyone just why he graduated, and why 'dead-last' wasn't a fitting insult to him anymore. He also wanted to prove to everyone here that _he_, Naruto Uzumaki was the best, never to be underestimated. And… how to get his teammates attention with his incredible improvements. Everyone's thoughts this morning were a little off, for the most part.

Little did Kakashi know his team's capabilities.

Little did Sakura know of how clueless she was, and how much she could be changed.

Little did the young boys know, they're dreams would become whole sooner than later.

Little did the quarto know that they were a family, which was still developing.

"Right then, let's start." Kakashi stood up as he said this, and then took all his utensils, which were plastic, by the way. He crushed them into a ball, spilling excess orange juice and crumbs all over.

"What're you doing, Sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Watch, you three. This is a very neat technique my sensei taught my when I was your age." Kakashi told them.

Then, he did something no one expected. H closed his eyes and everything in his hands, plus the crumbs and juice, lit aflame. With a flash a few seconds afterwards, all of it was gone, not a trace remained.

"Wow" Naruto and Sasuke grinned, before asking how he could do that.

"It's something like this, right?" Sakura answered, and tried the same. She crushed her meal together, and then instead of a quick burst of flame like Kakashi had done, a slow-growing blue-colored chakra appeared in her hands, followed by the same flash of light. She checked her hands; it was all gone, minus a few crumbs.

"Excellent, Sakura! You two should learn to pick things up as she does. It's half of how you develop jutsus, plus it gives you a better feel of Justus you'll learn later on. Not to mention how it plays a large role in developing techniques. I'll tell you about that later." Kakashi lectured, unaware nobody had listened, yet practiced together. He was interrupted by Naruto and Sasuke, during a new thing about 'developing efficient jutsus.

"Sensei, watch this" the boys commanded.

"The floor is yours" Kakashi told them, moving his visible eye to watch them.

They crushed their remaining meal, which was leftover from when they'd practiced a minute ago. Then, the boys' hands grew thick in blue chakra for them. With a flash, all was gone.

"What do you say to that, Sasuke?" Naruto high-fived him.

"Nice job, loser" Sasuke retorted with a smirk. Naruto showed his gratitude with a not-so-hurt-looking frown.

"You three have done very well. The technique you've mastered is the Wind Style: Matter dispersing technique."

"What's it used for, erasing your waste so you can't be found by enemies?" Sakura questioned.

"Precisely," Kakashi responded. "Now, we have training to do"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_This isn't so bad_, Naruto thought to himself as the training regime was mid-way through.

"So, you've realized the easy part is finished?" Kakashi asked the three.

"Y-Yes." Sasuke admitted a little unnerved.

"You've done your warm-ups, so here we go. I asked Iruka-sensei for your markings throughout the academy.

Naruto visibly paled.

"I've read over your weaknesses, and there's much work to be done. With me and two clones, you all will receive an individual instructor. The clone, or me, will be teaching you for the rest of the week, hopefully it'll pay off." Kakashi informed them.

Each three of the children smiled a mile wide with this fact in hand.

"By the way, to prevent favoritism, I will not be telling you which one of you will receive the real me's training."

Kakashi summoned two clones. Each Kakashi, including the real one, took hand of a student, and performed the body-flicker technique to an isolated area.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The week was a long one, the kids concluded.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

((1)) - - This was a joke my friends made with me, hopefully you can understand it X3

I've included chapters with titles now! Everyone must be overjoyed :D

Please, keep reviewing! I love reading your comments, good or bad.

Peace out,

Golden Warrior


	5. Sakura's Training, part one of three

The Backside of the Rose

Golden Warrior

Hello, hello! This is frickin' miracle, 3 chapters in 10 days. Awesome, isn't it? XD

Anyways, I've seen confusion as to whether this is a NaruxSasu, which it isn't. It's also not a SasuxSaku. This fic is _about_ the youngsters, but the pairing is NaruxSaku. I hope this doesn't upset anyone, but I've stated it from the summary of the fic. Hopes this clears things up.

Without further stalling, I present the 5th chapter, Sakura's Training!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So, Sakura. Are you ready to begin?" Kakashi asked, ready to began teaching his student.

"Yes, sensei. What are you going to work on first with me?" Sakura asked.

"We're going to work on your horrific stamina and strength. It's almost like you and Naruto are dead-opposites. Most of the pre-ninja in the academy have higher stamina than you do. There's also another thing, you have no will power, or confidence in yourself. _It's a deadly combo, Sakura and Naruto are two-peas in a pod, feeding off each other, and Sasuke is all-around skilled...though he has many flaws. This could be the strongest team since…Maybe my own. It's the fact of how powerful Naruto and Sakura's strengths are at their current level that amazes me. Sakura's Chakra control is past even Iruka's, and a few jounin._

Sakura sighed in frustration, obviously knowing her sensei was trying to capitalize on her weaknesses. "Alright then, I'm ready." She responded, still unsure if this would even work. She'd tried as long as she could remember to fix this problem, perhaps years. Now, Kakashi would try to fix it in a few days? This was a little too much.

Kakashi, nonetheless, presented her with something she had not expected. It was new apparel to be worn on her training sessions and missions.

"Clothes?" Sakura piped. (1)

"Weighted clothes." Kakashi corrected. These weights were definitely way too much for even Naruto and Sasuke to handle. He knew this would be a _long_ stretch. He smiled to himself. This was a girl who worked extremely hard to achieve where she was now. Just by examining Iruka's report about her, he could tell she could possibly succeed.

"Sensei, I've tried this before. It won't work. I know that it's a temporary thing that only sticks with you if you stick with it. My muscles are naturally too small to handle these." Sakura explained.

"Nonesense; these are extremely weighted compared to anything you could've had access to before hand." Kakashi assured. "So, just put them on."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fifteen minutes later, Sakura thought her sensei was insane. She literally _could not_ move her legs or arms. The weights had forced her onto the ground, and she couldn't pick herself up.

"S-sensei, I can't move" Sakura whined.

"I noticed. For now, you need to feed chakra into the weights to get them to work. At first, you won't be able to move, so by feeding chakra, it'll remove some weight so you can move and begin training. Then, after your body adjusts to the weights, it'll increase the weights until you can't feed more. The goal is to get you to that point, and then have you move as fast as you can with the weights on as now." Kakashi told her, shooting down her hope, and hopping to get her focused in on this extreme training.

Sakura stared wide-eyed, like she'd had a needle jabbed through her rear. How was she supposed to move her fastest now as when she was wearing these things?

"Now, feed 30 of your maximum chakra into the weights, Sakura." Kakashi instructed.

"Okay" Sakura complied, and did as she was told. The weights were increasingly less heavy, yet she could barely move.

"Good. Now, stand up." Kakashi commanded, and Sakura did just that. "I want 100 punches with each fist, and 100 kicks with each leg. Tell me when you are finished; I'll be over there-"Kakashi pointed to a tree, more specifically under the tree in the shade, "reading my book".

Sakura nodded grimly, and began the long training session.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

About three hours later, Sakura's first part of the training was completed. Each punch and each kick took a very long time to execute. She could barely stand right now, let alone waddle over to Kakashi and tell him she was finished. But, she managed to do it anyway.

"K-kakashi-sensei, I'm finished" Sakura stammered.

"Alright then, take five there. But only five minutes." Kakashi said.

Sakura didn't listen, she just knelt down, and rested her back against the ground, quietly recovering energy from her training.

After five minutes, Kakashi told her to run laps until he was finished with his book… which was only thirty more pages, so only a half-an hour. She ran at a solid pace, concentrating with her mind and soul to finish the task at hand.

"Alright, I'm done." Kakashi closed his book, and Sakura stopped. Kakashi went over to Sakura to offer her some water, but she immediately collapsed on the spot, and landed in Kakashi's arms.

Knowing she was through for the day, he brought her back to the camp, and let her rest. (2)He then went out and began his own training, something he'd not followed up with since he was assigned a team.

_I wonder how Sakura will handle this…_ Kakashi formed a tiger seal…

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sakura poked her eyes open just after she arose from her unconsciousness. Peering outside, she only saw darkness, or absolute nothingness. Frightened, she figured this would be a genjutsu, and bit her lip to wake her up from the jutsu. But, she didn't wake up, instead, she fell out of her tent, swirling into nothingness, as she cried out for help. A maniacal laugh could be heard from Sakura's viewpoint, scaring her further. She kept falling and falling until she landed on a very hard surface…

And woke up. Sakura blinked twice, and looked around. The darkness still was visible, only it wasn't evil, she could sense. It was the darkness of the night, which had just settled in by the way. Peering outside again, she was sure not to take a step in fright of falling. But as she looked around, she could tell this was reality, and got up again. She walked outside, and then turned to see a figure lying out on the ground.

She ran over to the figure, who she could tell was a man. He had long black hair, and a set of elegant earrings. His face was a pale as a sheet, and his eyes reminded her very much of a snake. Rolling him over on his back, she was about to check his injuries, when the man turned and grinned a psychotic grin, scaring the daylights out of her.

"You, you can't stop it from happening. I'll take the one whom you love most away from you. Or really, he will come to me on his own free will." The snake-eyed man informed her, and then cackled like a witch. Sakura was terrified of this man, and she ran away quickly, who was still laughing like a maniac. She noticed his words echoed with her as she ran into darkness, never ceasing to haunt her.

"_You can't stop it from happening… He will come to me on his own free will!"_

Sakura's eyes shot open with a scream. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she was cold-sweating all over. Her eyes shook back and forth, making sure the snake-man wasn't there anymore.

_Okay, okay. Maybe this is another part to the dream, so I'm going to stay in here until Kakashi sensei comes. _Sakura told herself.

Sooner than later, Kakashi could be heard running into her tent, with his visible eye closed to give her privacy, if she had needed it. Although she deeply needed the _opposite _of privacy.

"Sakura, may I look?" Kakashi questioned out of respect.

"Y-yes" Sakura replied, still very shaky.

"I heard you scream, are you okay? What on earth happened? You look terrible." Kakashi asked.

"I had a nightmare, nothing serious." Sakura told him. She didn't want to frighten her sensei or burden him with her senseless dreams of how a snake-eyed freak would try to take Sasuke from her.

Kakashi seemed to consider this for some time, before breaking the silence and asking her a question.

"Sakura, please tell me about your dream, if it's not too personal"

Sakura sighed, and explained the dream from start to finish to her mentor.

"The name of the man you met was Orochimaru." Kakashi said.

"W-What he said about taking Sasuke away from us… will it happen?" Sakura asked, hoping for an 'Are you kidding? Of course not!' answer.

"I don't know, anything is possible. But the dream you had, it was I who gave it to you." Kakashi informed her.

"What? Why would you do that?" Sakura asked him.

"Sakura, you need to learn a lesson before you continue training." Kakashi said sternly.

"What is it? I'm jealous? I knew that already." Sakura laughed.

"No, it's not." Kakashi shot her down. "It's how you interact with your other teammate that worries me"

"What? You mean Naruto? He's nothing great. Look at his abilities and grades. He comes from no clan, he has no parents to teach him, he has one jutsu, unlike Sasuke who has many fire-techniques, and his personality annoys us all." Sakura said, crossing her arms.

"Sakura, from what I perceive you don't like Naruto because something happened between you. Please, share it." Kakashi asked politely.

"It's nothing! It's just bothered me my whole life how Naruto just-" Sakura tried to rant, but she was cut off with a wave of Kakashi.

"Sakura" Kakashi then sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow." He exited her tent.

_Sheesh, what's his problem?_ Sakura thought to herself.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well, that's it for this one! Hope you liked it! Please, reviews are awesome! Keep them up!

By the way, I think you'll notice soon that I'm making a separate training chapter for each character. I think I'll do three or four training chapters for each character. Sorry, if this slows everything down, but I feel it'll help overall

Peace out!

Golden Warrior


	6. Sasuke's Headache

The Backside of the Rose- Sasuke's Super Duper Headache!

Chapter 6

Goldenstrike

Heyyyyyy peeps. Sorry for the long absence. With summer here, though, you can bet I'll be cranking out these chapters! So, here's the next piece of the story, The Beginnings of Sasuke's training.

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Kakashi faced Sasuke, looked him in the eye, and created a clone of Sakura and Naruto. Then Kakashi sat down and began to tell Sasuke his first task. Engaging in a 3-hour conversation with his teammates would be it.

"Sasuke, a great shinobi knows his team inside and out. He knows their strengths and weaknesses, which you'd have figured out without this training. But, you're giving Sakura and Naruto wrong messages about yourself. And social skills are needed to correct that." Kakashi explained.

'…_Nooooooooooo…' _ Sasuke thought to himself, and grimaced. Poor Sasuke.

Kakashi began again, "At your current level, Sakura's out of your league, and Naruto falls somewhere in between. I can predict Sakura's growth early, from her precise control over charka, she'd make an excellent medical nin. I can't say I know about Naruto yet…"

'_With Naruto, he's so much like none other than the Fourth, who was undoubtedly the strongest ninja ever born into Konohagakure. He should be the most interesting out here.'_ Kakashi pondered.

So Sasuke did as told, and concluded by the end of it, it wasn't so bad. Maybe being the outcast-lone-wolf wasn't worth it.

--------------------

Sakura, though, wanted to think it wasn't so bad. But for her, that would've been impossible. 6 days like this was taking a toll on her mentally.

'_2,000 fucking punches with each arm, not to mention with weights. I mean what the Hell?!'_

By now, she'd increased the maximum weights' weight to 75. How'd she'd survived this long, she wouldn't know. She just hoped tomorrow she could rest, as she could feel many overstretched muscles and cramps with every punch. There was no progress for her, she thought.

Kakashi watched all this, pondering about when he should teach her an attack jutsu. He decided that later that night, he'd tell her that her first phase of training was completed, and give her a resting day. Or 5.

-------------------

Sasuke and Kakashi noticed that Sasuke's disposition was much better after his 1st phase completion. He cracked a smile once, in three hours. But that wasn't a smirk, he knew. He hadn't genuinely smiled in a long time. Now, Kakashi had a jutsu for him.

"It's called the Chidori. My technique, that I invented when I was around your age. Curious?" Kakashi teased.

"Hell yeah." Sasuke's only two words, which were followed by not a smile, but by his trademark smirk.

"Alright, you need to focus on the target I've placed over on that tree. It's about 500 feet away, but someone with your eyes should be able to see it. You need to focus with all your might. And this may give you some headaches, but that can't hold you back. I don't usually tell subordinates the goal of an exercise, but I feel you should know in advance. For this jutsu, which is incredibly powerful, you need the Sharingan. The way you move at your opponent requires precise vision, due to your thrust speed, otherwise, you'd nearly be blind if you attacked like right now." Kakashi told him.

"…What did you say? Are you saying…" Sasuke paused, then it dawned on him. "It's the way you fashion your forehead protector. That left eye of yours, it's a surgically implanted Sharingan, isn't it?!" Sasuke roared, not knowing why he hadn't been informed of this.

"Indeed, it is. You're pretty clever, Iruka tells me. I believe him on that, though." Kakashi paused. "That's a secret between us, about my Sharingan, and your soon-to-be Sharingan. Clear?" He waited for an affirmative answer.

"…Fine."

"So begin, and look as hard as you can at the target. Can you see it? Good! Now you must throw 4 kunai knives straight into the bulls-eye, like a darts game." Kakashi demonstrated, only he didn't use his Sharingan or visible eye.

'_He… did it blindfolded. This man is really something!' _ Sasuke pondered.

Sasuke focused as hard as he could, and hurled 1 knife at the target, which landed on the outer rim. It surprised him that it was so close.

Then something happened Kakashi hadn't foreseen; Sasuke's eyes flashed red, but only for a split second.

Sasuke continued to throw them, yet never hitting that target completely. He knew it'd come soon, though.

--------------------------

By the end of the day, Sasuke had a large headache, and he couldn't see too well either. Kakashi lay him down in his tent, and summoned a cold compress, then placed it onto his forehead. Sasuke looked up at his teacher, and his eyes flickered again. This time, it hurt. Sasuke flinched, and let out a soft cry. Stupid Itachi, not telling him about this…

"Ah, yes. Obito-san had told me about this. It may continue for a little while. Your blood enters your eyes when Sharingan is activated, thus making your pupils red. All that blood rush to your head will take time to adjust to, so I advise you to drink lots of water, and plenty of sleep until it's activated. Now's a good time to take a nap." Kakashi finished.

-----------------------------

Later that night, Sasuke woke up, and removed the compress from his head. He began to reflect upon his training, which were some very weird exercises, he had to admit.

'_I think that conversation training is rubbing off. I feel like I need more conversing, just with those two. But they weren't even real! It's sick I'm so obsessed with them. It's not like they're my friends, they don't even like me. Naruto, he sees me as a rival, never looking past that, his only worry is how strong I am so he can get better. And Sakura's just got a huge girly-crush on me. It'll end soon, and then she'll just be like anyone else in the world. Or… maybe it's my fault those two are so distant from me-_

Sasuke's eyes began to burn, like he'd opened his eyes in a sea. They stung like no other. He felt the blood rush to his eyes. Yet, there was nothing he could do about it. He quickly slid the cold compress over his eyes to cool them down, which seemed to work. He'd had enough of his eye troubles, and wished the Sharingan would just show itself. Hopefully learning the third iris wasn't this painful, he'd thought. He made a mental note to ask Itachi about that when he arrived home.

Sasuke, still with the compress over his eyes, got up out of his tent and walked around outside, careful of where he stepped, for he couldn't see when with a compress on his head. With a deep sigh, he went back in the tent and fell asleep.

-------------

Sakura awoke the next morning, but she actually felt a little better. She'd noted her weights were getting more manageable to walk around in. She ate quickly, brushed her hair, and teeth, and tied her hair into a ponytail. Then she walked to her sensei, who was already up and running, to ask for instructions.

"Alright. I want to see how for you've come Sakura. With the weights on at 75 right now, I want you to come at me with a killer intent. Pretend as if I was a ninja from, oh, say, the Hidden Village of the Sound, and I'd just taken Sasuke from you.

That was enough to motivate the girl; She came at full pace to Kakashi, with two kunai, one in each hand. Fast as she could, she made hand signs for a Bushin no jutsu, with the kunai in her hands. Two Sakura's appeared on either side of her, and they began to close in on Kakashi, when one of the clones, or perhaps Sakura, leapt straight up, which Kakashi had just done to avoid the attack. In midair, Sakura launched a fierce punch to her sensei's abdomen. What Sakura hadn't known, was that this was also a clone, and it exploded with a puff of white smoke. The real Kakashi ran out from his hiding space, and leapt up in the air to meet Sakura. Sakura, as she fell to earth, tossed her kunai at Kakashi, who blocked it with his own. He arrived at where she was, and delivered a powerful two-handed dunk to shoot Sakura back to Earth.

As Sakura hit the ground, she cried out in pain; She'd landed on her back. But she wasn't out yet. All that training had improved her stamina.

"Good work, Sakura." Kakashi complemented. "you weren't supposed to do any damage, but you did bust my clone. It's a sign of progress, no matter how little of it you think." He smiled.

"Now, remove the weights."

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Yeah, this seemed a little small. You know, start small, then big? That's what's gonna happen. It took me a little time to think of what to right for this chapter. The next one's gonna be out soon, so keep checking back.

Peace Golden Warrior


	7. Last days of training

**The Backside of the Rose**

**Chapter 7**

**GoldenStrike**

Sasuke tripped out of his tent, not being able to see very well. Today he wore a white undershirt, his typical shorts, and had no shoes on. His forehead protector was being washed, so he wasn't wearing it either. He'd simply had his ninja kit on his left leg, as usual.

His eyes were at the point of blurred vision now, and it was taking a toll on him. He'd just figured it'd been a common side-effect of the Sharingan, but he'd not really heard of any. When Itachi had awakened his Sharingan, nothing special happened, if you don't count the Sharingan special.

Kakashi had helped slightly, only offering him a pair of glasses until the side effects wore off. Sasuke wouldn't ever be seen wearing them. He was an Uchiha; eyewear would be the biggest form of disgrace to his family.

So he put them on eventually, which was after he'd tripped out of his tent. He glared at his teacher, who chuckled slightly at the sight of his student.

"Well Sasuke, you certainly appear a genius now, if you were trying to project that image." Kakashi commented.

Sasuke was getting tired of waiting for his teacher to finish. "Sensei, can I begin now?"

"Go ahead" Kakashi replied. He'd not actually been watching Sasuke, but he wouldn't be surprised if he'd gotten much better at this.

Sasuke removed a trio of shurikens, and then took a mental picture of the scene. He shut his eyes, and tossed the first shuriken. It hit the target, missing the bulls-eye to the right and bottom. He then tossed the second, which landed adjacent to it, on the bottom left hand corner of the bulls-eye. He took a quick step back, and fired the last one, still blindly, which hit the target dead-on.

'_What a formation…I've yet to see this. There's something peculiar about this one.'_

Sasuke opened his eyes, and looked at his results without emotion. "I can't beat him" he breathed aloud, clenching his left fist.

Kakashi hadn't listened to this, but thought to himself, what had been the reason for hitting the target so close to the bulls-eye all those times. He'd guessed it could be blind chance, but he thought of that as unlikely. Sasuke also hadn't channeled any charka into his eyes, so his already impaired vision wasn't being adjusted.

There was also a possibility Sasuke had had an epiphany or a sudden insight while he had been away. Nevertheless, he was finished, so he'd be ready for the next phase.

"Sasuke, the second stage begins now, since you seem ready. Your objective is to defeat me in combat."

"Sensei, we both know I can't do that, right?" Sasuke chuckled at this.

"Actually, I like the way you've improved. I'm going to be watered down significantly so you can fight me. I'm forced only to taijutsu and the kawarimi no jutsu. When I think you've done enough, we'll begin. And I also am not aloud to use my Sharingan"

"Alright" Sasuke's reply was. He readied himself with some shuriken in one hand, and a smoke bomb in the other. Kakashi readied a kunai in both hands. Sasuke waited for him to make the first move. Which never came, he'd tell you. After what seemed like 20 minutes of waiting, Sasuke tossed his smoke bomb, which had taken Kakashi by surprise. Knowing his teacher was off-guard; he tossed the shurikens into the smoke, and began to rush in after throwing them, with a kunai in his hand. His eyes fortunately flashed again, allowing him to see through the smoke to where Kakashi was. He rushed in the smoke and stabbed the older ninja in the throat with his kunai.

Suddenly, his teacher puffed into a cloud of white smoke, which only revealed a log. Sasuke grinned. He repositioned his kunai in his hand quickly, then whirled around and stabbed something else, which turned out to be Kakashi.

Actually, it was another clone. And unfortunately, Sasuke's plan had failed; he'd hoped to fake his smarts rushing into the smoke, only knowing full well Kakashi was behind him. He didn't think Kakashi would take all these steps.

Sasuke quickly scouted for his teacher, who was perched on a nearby branch.

"Sasuke, to be a real shinobi, you must see underneath the underneath." He chimed, as he hopped down. He then charged at Sasuke with his two kunai in hand. Kakashi hadn't seen Sasuke react, so he quickly threw them.

"Shit!" Sasuke muttered as he saw the kunai were equipped with explosive tags. He went through the seals, and then removed a very large shuriken.

"Shadow Shuriken Technique!" Sasuke called out, tossing two large shuriken at once.

Kakashi watched as the shurikens cut straight through his own projectiles, which then detonated before arriving at Sasuke.

The boy knew this was his chance, and he dashed at his teacher, watching the two shadows of his shuriken begin to form and race after Kakashi.

Meanwhile, Kakashi watched the two shurikens come at him, and hopped up in the air, and quickly kicked the shurikens straight into the ground. He picked them up, and tossed them at Sasuke's shadow shurikens, and the projectiles met with a large noise. They clanked against each other and went off in their own directions, and Kakashi sighed in relief.

Then something happened Kakashi hadn't foreseen; Sasuke was right behind him, and he attacked his sensei just before Kakashi could detect him. Kakashi was knocked over from the blow. This time though, Sasuke saw no white smoke. Sasuke's lips curled into a soft smirk at the realization that he'd truly hit Kakashi. Sasuke's vision was beginning to decline, and his head had begun to hurt.

Kakashi quickly rose to his feet, and grinned at Sasuke, waving his hand.

"You did an excellent job, Sasuke. Well, for a genin, at least." Kakashi conceded. Following this, Kakashi burst into a large splash of water.

And before Sasuke could move, Kakashi had a kunai around his throat.

"It's not your fault; actually it's my doing that I wasn't pummeled by your kick. You couldn't have seen it…yet."

Sasuke slowly brought a hand to his aching head, and signaled for a cold compress from his teacher. Kakashi quickly aided the problem, handing one over to Sasuke.

Now something was bothering the jounin. Why was Sasuke suffering from these pains? Not that it was his time of the month, for he was a boy. This thought amused him.

'_Yes, it's obviously the Sharingan. His Uchiha blood is not accepting it, yet it's not foreign. Could someone have injured his eyes somehow? This isn't something I've heard of…Maybe Sandaime-sama will know something.'_

Removing the thoughts of Sasuke's pain, the silver-haired man lay him down under the tree he'd been reading in earlier. Sasuke squirmed in pain every so often, and after around 15 minutes, he'd fallen asleep, though his face was contorted from the pain.

Kakashi took the chance here to read his favorite book. Yet before he could do that, he spotted another silver-haired Konoha shinobi.

"Yakushi Kabuto of the medic squad?" The new man nodded his head. "I have something to ask; my student here is an Uchiha, and I'd like to help him, but I can't. He's suffering from pain in his head. I think it's stemmed to the awakening of his Sharingan, but I'm not sure completely. Is there something you can do?"

Kabuto examined Sasuke. Taking his blood pressure, his temperature, pulse, and breathing sequence, he told Kakashi he didn't know what could be wrong.

"I'd like to try one more thing" Kabuto said. He placed two fingers on Sasuke's forehead, and released some healing charka into his head. Sasuke's brow relaxed, and his face now looked normal.

"That's all I can do for now. You'd planned on seeing Hokage-sama, right?" Kakashi nodded. "By the way, Kakashi-san, there's something we need to discuss."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

A breeze of wind grazed Sakura's face as she relaxed. Her day was hard, just as the others days had been as well. So now here she sat, not under any tree, or shade. She didn't bother going to shade; it just made getting back up that much harder. She sipped some water from her water bottle, and slowly rose back up.

"Kakashi sensei, here I come." Sakura announced to Kakashi, and thus ending her break.

She began with cloning herself twice with the Bushin no jutsu. Now, each clone tossed a smoke bomb, and Sakura began her charge in. The pink-haired kunoichi then clicked her heels, still in stride, and her weights dropped.

Kakashi jumped from the smoke, only to see Sakura vanish from her spot, and then he felt a pain in his back. Sakura had landed a roundhouse kick on his spine, sending him back down to the ground, and causing a face-fault.

Now Kakashi hadn't expected her speed to be this high. He'd just seen her train, and she wasn't this quick. Maybe she masked her true speed?

_Or maybe I was too busy reading, dammit._ Kakashi sighed.

Sakura landed gracefully, and then grabbed a shuriken. She charged full-speed at her teacher, and engaged him in a high-speed taijutsu battle. She rapidly punched, blocked, and kicked her sensei as he tried to keep up and do the same. Eventually, Kakashi landed a punch to her jaw, leading to something unexpected.

Sakura transformed into a log, and then Kakashi knew what'd happened.

Meanwhile, Sakura appeared out of the remaining smoke, and punched her teacher right back in the jaw. He'd expected this, and had already moved away, leaving a log in his wake.

Each ninja took this moment to relax and catch their breath for a second. Sakura raced through her mind for ideas. She'd pretty much shown her sensei all she'd had. Kakashi meanwhile was slightly amazed at her progress. She'd turned out… much more interesting than he'd thought.

"Sakura, that was very well thought-out. It was a great effort, and you should be proud of yourself. Your speed has really shot up, along with your taijutsu." Kakashi complimented.

"I'd like to teach you a technique, but first place your weights back on." The silver-haired jounin ordered.

-----

"Hmm…So what are you going to teach me, sensei?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"I had 2 jutsu in mind for you." Kakashi formed some seals, and out popped a large scroll, which was tied up.

"I'm going to teach you the summoning jutsu for tracking dogs. It's a minor summoning pact, but you also need to write your name in blood here." He instructed.

"Aw…I don't like blood…But alright, here goes." Naruto complied.

The golden-haired teen bit his lip, and brought up his index finger to catch the blood. He then wrote down Naruto Uzumaki on a free space on the scroll. Kakashi then rolled up the scroll, and poofed it away. The one-eyed man then showed the boy the seals necessary for the jutsu.

Naruto slowly went through the seals until they were stuck in his mind. He was ready for a real summon now.

"Alright, I'm going to try this now." Naruto said. He focused his charka, and imagined the tracking dogs that Kakashi'd showed him a picture of.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Naruto called. The result was a puff of smoke, and two dogs he recognized from the picture, along with a few puppies. He guessed he's only partially done this jutsu correctly.

"Not bad, but not really good either, right?" Naruto asked. Kakashi nodded, and told him to focus his charka more, and then gather more of it.

"Okay, that's all? I'll try again." The boy spoke. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto called again.

This time, around 7 dogs, all of which he'd seen in the picture, appeared before him, with headbands of Konoha. There was only one puppy.

"Now that's much better." Kakashi complimented. "The puppy you've still got is alright, the final tracking dog is very difficult to summon for someone of your age. In time, I'd imagine he will come around and poof in with the other tracking dogs. So really, don't get too upset about it." Kakashi said.

"By the way, around what percentage of charka did you use?"

"Hmm…I'd say 6 total." Naruto replied.

Kakashi blinked.

_What a weird little kid._

He nodded, not showing his thoughts. "Naruto, we're going to spar, so get ready for me."

"Yeah, bring it." Naruto raced through his seals. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" he called.

Suddenly 9 new Narutos appeared, and each of them charged at Kakashi, with one Naruto staying back.

The Narutos attacked with random taijutsu. Some kicked, some punched, and one slapped, or tried to slap Kakashi. He quickly disposed of all of them, and then disappeared and reappeared behind the Naruto that stayed back.

"A good idea to stay safe, just not a good idea against a jounin." Kakashi complimented.

He sliced the last Narutos head off with a kunai, but it disappeared too. Kakashi'd totally expected this. But maybe not this.

Two hands grabbed and locked Kakashi's feet from underneath him. Then, Naruto appeared in front of him, and summoned some more clones. The Naruto team then attacked the immobile Kakashi, beating him thouroghly. Kakashi quickly lifted his headband, and revealed a red eye that Naruto hadn't known. Kakashi then obliterated the clones with taijutsu, and yanked the Naruto beneath him out of the ground, finally stabbing this one.

Naruto stood back, eyes open quite wide.

"What the hell is that?!" His voice was beginning to rise.

"I don't know. You can call it a defensive mechanism." The man smirked. "Tell me boy, where did you learn that Jutsu?"

"…That's none of your business. A ninja must keep his secrets." Naruto told him.

"Do you know about what lives inside of you, Naruto?" Kakashi asked him.

"Yes…I do. Though I'd like to change the subject." Naruto told him in a warring tone.

"No, I didn't mean it like that." Kakashi replied.

"Yeah, well, I did mean what I said like that." Naruto closed up.

Then Naruto formed his hands into a Tori sign. He began to glow in a light blue, and his voice rose into a bit of a growl.

Suddenly, he disappeared, and reappeared behind Kakashi, and combined that with a back fist, which was parried by Kakashi. Naruto then began an onslaught of attacks on his teacher, sending punches all over, Kakashi parrying every one. Still, Kakashi was moving fast, though he could keep this up for a long time.

Naruto then shot his foot up straight through Kakashi's guard. The foot landed snugly under the older ninja's chin, and sent him back a bit.

'_Hell was that? He's using charka to energize himself, giving an increase of speed and power, but that kick was definitely not something he'd made up._ Kakashi thought to himself.

_Hehe…Thanks Rock _Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto then began to ooze out more charka, and dashed right into Kakashi, again meeting him with ferocity, and sending kicks and punches at his teacher.

Kakashi replied with a quite powerful punch to Naruto's face, blasting him back 10 feet. Naruto lay there, grasping his face, screaming.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed, pain clouding his word-filter.

"Still, impressive. Quite interesting, young one." Kakashi marked.

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That concludes this chapter. That also ends the training saga, so yay.

Notes- Please do not think team 7 is over powered. It's such a common and unappealing mistake writers make, and I'm trying to avoid it. So please bear with me.

Anyway, future chapters will increase in length, only getting longer.

Next time – Team 7's first real mission


	8. Team 7 Chuunin? Itachi's last mission

**The Backside of the Rose**

**Chapter 8**

**Written by GoldenStrike**

Hey guys, hope you're enjoying the quick updates! I started this around two days after chapter 7 was published. So you betta be happy XD

Just a note about this chapter; it takes the course of one day, so if you see me write 10:00 PM, then 10:00 AM, I'm just shifting scenes.

Anyway, any questions, comments, concerns, (more importantly, reviews) please post in the review section, or email me at Make a useful message title so it doesn't get stuck in my spam folder, too

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It was a Tuesday morning, nearly 4 days after the conclusion of the team's personal training. Sasuke awoke from his slumber back in the Uchiha Manor. His eyes hurt, but that'd happened every day since he'd awoken. He quickly rose and walked out of his room to the family garden, plucking some necessary herbs to make a pain medication.

Around fifteen minutes later, he bumped into Itachi, muttering a 'Sorry'. He received no reply back, other than a glance from Itachi. Sasuke turned back, and grabbed his brother's shoulder.

"Hey! What was that for anyway?" Sasuke asked, angered.

"…" Itachi's eyes narrowed, and his left fist shot out to Sasuke's neck, as he slammed him against the wall, choking him.

"Go about your business, and do not bother me, younger brother." Itachi said with a venomous tone. He took Sasuke and threw him off, and walked back to what he was doing.

'Fuck's wrong with him? Some nerve he's got. Sasuke thought to himself. Sasuke walked off, and grabbed his breakfast.

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Meanwhile, Itachi left the Uchiha Manor, and happen to see Naruto walking towards his apartment, talking with another boy, who had a mushroom-haircut and black hair, along with a green spandex suit. His headband was wrapped around his waist, and he had some sort of fuzzy warmers on his lower legs. Itachi walked off, going back to his destination. Just as he turned, he heard the boy's voice.

"Hey! Sasuke!" Naruto said.

Itachi turned, and faced Naruto, who was looking at him. Just how could he not tell this wasn't his brother?

"I'm not Uchiha Sasuke. My name is Itachi." Itachi replied, with little emotion, and a slight smile.

'Wow, good work, Baka. 'Shows your smarts' The Kyuubi poked.

'Shut up, fox. They look a lot alike.' Naruto thought to himself.

"O-oh! I'm sorry." Naruto giggled, and rubbed his head. "Do you know Sasuke? You really look like him."

"I'm his older brother."

Itachi left the scene, as Naruto apologized, and entered his apartment. His thoughts traveled to his next mission at hand. The Hokage had made this mission just for him, and it was not something that happened often for a 17 year old ninja, still on a team of his own.

Itachi turned the corner, with Hokage Tower in sight. He jammed his hands in his pockets, and looked around the town he loved so much. With a smirk, continued walking, and as he entered the building, went up the stairs into Sandaime's office.

He knocked on the door, and after a "Come in" from the Hokage. Itachi opened the door, and greeted the elderly man. Sandaime motioned for him to sit down.

"Itachi-kun, I have a very important mission for you." He said very seriously.

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10:00 P.M.

Itachi exited Hokage Tower after thanking the Hokage for his time. As he exited, he noticed it was raining. The teenager looked up in the sky, and tears streamed down his face.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, Mother, Father…All of you, please forgive me." He croaked, and wiped his face.

Itachi walked back home and immediately went to bed. He had several nightmares that night.

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10:00 A.M.

Meanwhile, the sun shone down on Sakura and Ino as they sparred together. They had just begun, and the two friends were already going at it.

"You cheater! No ninjutsu in a spar, you Pig!" Sakura shouted at her as Ino cancelled her Mind-Control Jutsu.

"Shut up Billboard Brow! You couldn't beat me even if I didn't use any ninjutsu!" Ino fired back.

"Yeah, sure." Sakura commented back. In a flash, Ino was right behind her, with her kunai right behind her, ready to slice her throat.

"Yeah sure what?" Ino came back. "We both know I'm not fat, so calling me a Pig won't do you any good."

Sakura grunted, and then flicked off her weights, disappearing from Ino's sight. Sakura reappeared many feet from Ino, with a kunai in her hand.

"If I can't call you that, then what else do I call you?" Sakura threw back.

Sakura then stepped back, and charged at Ino with great speed, she and Ino clashed with their kunais, Sakura kept slashing back, and Ino did as well. The battle continued for around a minute, and the clank of metal could be heard quite far away, until Sakura connected with a left-hook to Ino's face.

"Sakura, that's enough. I'm tired. Let's just talk." Ino breathed out. Sakura sat down next to her, and the two looked at each other for a moment.

"So, how're Naruto and Sasuke?" Ino began.

"Sasuke's good! I'm so happy to be on his team." Sakura smiled sadly. "I don't get to see him much; we've only met once as a team. But I don't have to be around Naruto much either, so that's nice. He's so weird." Sakura sighed.

"Yeah, Chouji and Shikamaru are alright. Chouji's a better ninja than I'd given him credit for. And Shikamaru…" Ino stopped. "I don't want to give away our secrets, but I'll tell you; He's a great shinobi." She smiled. "We all work really well together, I guess."

Sakura chuckled. "That's good. How's being the only girl?"

"Are you serious? It's terrible! The boys are so stubborn and wear the same clothes every day!" Ino said, very excited.

Sakura laughed again, and then stood up, offering her hand to Ino.

"Hey. Do you um…want to go get some lunch with me?" She asked.

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10:05 P.M.

Kakashi entered the Hokage's office after being called in immediately. He did not wish to be late for something so urgent.

"Sit down Kakashi; I need to talk with you." Sarutobi commanded. Kakashi took a seat and opened his ears to what the Hokage would say.

"I've assigned a mission for Uchiha Itachi. It's an S-class mission, and maybe the riskiest mission we've sent anyone on from Konohagakure." He said sadly.

Kakashi's brow rose, and began to speak. "If I may ask, what is the mission?"

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6:00 P.M.

As the golden sky showered its rays on a young boy, with the sun's color applied to his hair, one Uchiha frowned as he looked over to him.

"Naruto"

Naruto was on the ground, and hearing his name, he rose, and turned to face the voice, which he immediately recognized.

"Sasuke" the blond boy responded, with a hand in a pocket, and a cocked knee. He leaned on his left knee. "What's up?"

"Want to spar?" the dark-haired asked at last. Sasuke's stare cracked as he smirked

Naruto grinned, and complied quickly. "Are there any restrictions?"

"How about no jutsu of any type, only taijutsu, actually." Sasuke replied.

"Alright then, Teme. Let's dance." Naruto grinned.

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Meanwhile, not too far from where Sasuke and Naruto began their spar, a man infiltrated Konoha, and was on the move.

"Master, we're almost there. Please prepare yourself… The graveyard approaches." said a man with spiky hair, and at least a ring or two dangling from his face.

"Ah, the time comes at last…I can truly live, and then we can start our goals." said a voice that was not tangible, but a spirit flying freely next to Spiky-hair.

But, these two infiltrators were not roaming undetected. A certain silver-haired sannin cussed inward as he saw Spiky-hair, and how they were dressed. He had no idea what he was here for, and there was no way anyone in this town in this present day could match him; He was stronger than anyone Jiraiya had ever seen. He himself was on no level to fight this man.

"_Sandaime-san, get Itachi as far away from here as possible, they cannot meet now, it could botch everything… Hokage-sama, I think this man is one of them, and if that's true, then they're here. And we CANNOT hold him off… Best to let them do as they please, for it's only wasted lives and effort to attack him."_ Jiraiya scribbled down on a sheet of paper. He thus summoned a frog, to carry the message to the Fire Shadow, obviously.

He imagined this man as part of a food chain, for an obscure reason… There were the genin here, the insects, and then the chuunin, the frogs, the jounin, the snakes, the sanin, the eagles, the Hokage, the Lion, and this guy… He must be a human with a musket…

And with no limit to his ammo.

Jiraiya gulped, and quickly poofed out of his location before the man noticed him.

"Hey, listen up. You're also not to kill anyone lest they confront you, I feel the need to remind you." The spirit added as Spiky-hair simply nodded his hand. Spiky-hair let out a loud cackle that could make you shiver from a mile away.

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"Oi!" Kakashi called as he arrived at the meeting spot of Team 7. Today, he felt the need to be on time.

"What the hell?" Sakura replied as she blinked with Naruto and Sasuke. "You're on time!"

It'd been 4 months since Team 7 was formed, and they were a very capable cell. Kakashi came to reward them today.

"Yes, but it's not something you guys need to get used to. This is business only." Kakashi said firmly. "Well, I'm here to suggest that you three enter the Chunnin exams. How do you guys feel about that?"

Naruto and Sasuke quickly pounded fists with each other, each with a smirk. Sakura simply smiled, she choose to hide her excitement.

"You better believe we're entering, sensei." Sasuke answered.

"Good, then you need to enter the academy in fifteen minutes. I forgot to ask you earlier, you know how busy I am?" Kakashi said.

"You're the worst, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura called as she and her two friends ran off to the academy, setting out on their first adventure alone.

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As team 7 popped open the academy doors, they each exchanged glances to assure each other they knew the game plan.

'"_Alright guys, we're keeping the lowest profile we can. Naruto, you've got the bulk of this task; acting like you did back in the academy. Any skirmishes you take part of need to be fought at your lowest level, lest you're going to kill your opponent. Otherwise, try to act like an idiot, though that shouldn't be hard for you." Sasuke finished, earning a shove from his blond teammate. "Sakura, your job is the middle ground, but still easy. Just lower your confidence level a little bit around everyone, that way people suspect you haven't changed." Sakura nodded. "And" Sasuke added, "I brought your old clothes from when we graduated, we can change along the way, it's another way to cast off attention."_

"_I'm only in this if you act more conceited than usual, bastard." Naruto replied with a laugh._

_Sasuke rolled his eyes and nodded'_

"Well, look what the cat dragged in! Team same old 7." Kiba roared with laughter. "What are you doing here Naruto? You're not strong enough to be here!"

"You better believe I am, dog-bastard. I'm ready to kick some ass as always." Naruto shot back.

"Kiba, get over here." Naruto recognized Aburame Shino's voice, which was filled with annoyance for his teammate. "Sorry to bother you guys."

"I-it's okay!" Sakura placed her hand behind her back, and waved.

Hyuuga Hinata hid behind Shino, hands up to her mouth, and her eyes on Blond-boy.

"You know Hinata" Sasuke walked up to her, lowering his voice so only Shino and Hinata could hear. "He'd really like it if you were straight with him. He'd like to know the truth, I bet." Sasuke said. He walked back to Naruto, and snapped in his face to get his attention away from his argument with Kiba. Naruto waved away his hand, and followed the raven-haired boy. Sakura was soon to follow.

"Naruto's never going to make any real friends that way." Akamichi Chouji laughed, and poked his friend and teammate Yamanaka Ino. They stood above on the railing leading to the main room, leaning on the rail.

"He's borderline retarded, what do you expect?" Ino laughed too. Nara Shikamaru, in between these two just shook his head. Everyone was so damn troublesome, after not seeing each other for months.

Team 7 walked past these three, the four boys ignoring each other, and the girls staring at each other.

As Team 7 entered the main room, Iruka sensei waved them over to his desk, and checked them in. He and Naruto talked for a little while, while Sasuke thought he noticed his brother, Itachi as a proctor. Though, he only caught a glimpse of him, as he was running at such fast speeds, only a Sharingan and a trained eye could see him. He saw him in a black cloak with cute red clouds, and a ring on his finger.

_What's he up to?_ Sasuke cocked his head.

Sasuke looked around, and saw lots of people he didn't recognize. He'd say around 140 people, actually. One man stood in the middle, with a gong in hand. He rang the gong, and there was silence. Every eye was on him, for this man was Morino Ibiki.

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Alright! I'm sorry for the update lags… I've been busy. But, here's chapter. Anyway, this took a lot of time to think out, so just know I put a lot of effort forth here.

As always, reviews are received well, and loved by me. Anything you've gotta say.

GS


	9. The Battle of Surprise

**The Backside of the Rose, chapter 9**

**GoldenStrike**

Author's note- Yes, this story seems sequential so far, but please understand this isn't how it'll be forever, I need to set things up and all first, and time-skips are for impatient authors, which I think are the worst ones. Here's chapter 9, though. As always, please post reviews!

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Naruto's eyes swirled round in his head, and if he could see straight he'd see that just about everyone in site was in a similar state. It was rather funny, Ibiki thought to himself. He'd done this many times, but he still had to suppress a smirk each and every time he'd done it.

"Welcome genin, to the Chuunin selection exam registration." Morino paused. "Now, gather up into your squads of three, and get in line. Any of you who aren't checked in by 4:00 are automatically not allowed in, thus failed."

Quickly the low-class ninja hustled to get into line, grabbing their teammates' shirts and dragging them into an adjacent space. This seemed to be Sakura's job; Sasuke and Naruto were pulled in by here by the collar of their shirts. And the young kunoichi had gotten a good spot too; around 10th in line. She didn't see any other piers from Konohagakure in site, but she figured that's just better for their team. She sighed to herself, Sasuke and Naruto could be so disorganized at times.

"Hehe, thanks Sakura-chan" Naruto said with a hint of regret in his voice, Sasuke just nodded with a similar expression. Naruto just stood there, carefully taking in his surroundings, other shinobi that stuck out, killing intent… No, as far as he'd known, everything was normal.

But there was one person he missed, and soon to be more. A shinobi with his sibling on either side of him was not far from insane, so how could Naruto have missed him? Dumb luck, perhaps, Naruto thought. There was killing intent oozing out of this ninja, yet nobody seemed to notice.

It was just then, Naruto noticed. His eyes shot at the source of this intent, and he found a pair of sunken eyes staring back into his, driving them back into his head like a battering ram. The ninja looked terrible, to say at least. He was a red-head, and carried a weird gourd on his back. But he was scrawny, short, and he looked like he hadn't slept for some time. But even still, his eyes shone like a full moon, and Naruto was genuinely frightened. He turned his eyes away from this ninja.

Why, why in hell's name hadn't someone else noticed this? Was Sasuke in dreamland? Naruto couldn't find answers here, and he tapped his male teammate on the shoulder.

"Oi, Sasuke. Can you feel it?" he asked grimly.

Sasuke paused before answering. "No, I don't know what you mean. I was checking to see if something was out of the ordinary too, sorry for the pause. You're losing it." He finished with a 'Tch' sound.

Naruto didn't glance back at the shinobi, who looked around his age of thirteen. He tuned out to the buzz of voices, until Sakura snapped at him to pay attention. Their turn for registration was here, now.

Fifteen minutes later, Team 7 exited the building, and Kakashi was right there.

"How'd the registration go? No problems?"

"Yeah, it was alright. You made us think today was the day the exam started. When are they?" Naruto asked. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"You idiot, they told us like ten times. It's in six months, Monday the sixteenth." Sasuke answered.

"…Shut up, teme." Naruto said, verbally pot-shotting Sasuke

"Oh, good one. You use that line every time you don't like what someone says to you. Is it because you really are quite weak?" Sasuke replied.

"That's enough. Your teamwork is blundering today, I see. Anyway, we have our mission today. It's a B-rank.

The three teens instantly turned all attention to Kakashi. B-ranks were for Chuunin and up. This was suicidal for genin.

"Before you protest, it's perfectly fine. Sandaime-sama wishes to test your true colors as ninja. Pack your bags for a two-month trip, it's going to be quite a mission." Kakashi said seriously. "Meet me by the front gate in forty-five minutes.

And so forty-six minutes later, to Sakura's surprise, all four of them were there ready to leave. They nodded to each other, and began to run. Well, Kakashi did; the teens tried to keep up. They didn't know where he was leading them, but Kakashi had earlier told them this will be a hard mission. Naruto was psyched, to say at least.

Trees, trees… Large splotches of green and brown. Naruto had grown quite bored of this setting. He didn't even know where they were going! Kakashi hadn't told them where they were going… What's wrong with him?

_Maybe it's a surprise like ramen! _

But Naruto quickly dismissed his thought, when Sasuke called his name. He poked his head out and looked at his dark-haired acquaintance

"Eh, we're going to call it a day." Sasuke informed him.

The whiskered-boy nodded, and then the foursome stopped progressing, and hopped down to the ground. Kakashi quickly summoned the necessities of a camp, while the kids talked amongst themselves.

Well, that'd be half-true, Naruto hummed to himself quietly.

'_Flying alone and I feel like I don't belong, and I can't tell right from the wrong and why have I been here so long'_

The words grabbed at his memories, and his eyes drooped. This song seemed to be written about him. It's so weird. He recalled the time Sakura had even turned on him, and he truly thought he was alone. He'd really changed since then, hadn't he? But, these memories still yanked his soul, forcing him to peer back into the awful life that was once his. Funny, he didn't know how bad he had it until it was gone. A lucky man, he thought of himself, to be where he was at this time. Free like a bird.

He brought his head down to earth, and began talking with the others.

"So, Naruto. What kind of music do you like?" Sasuke asked with a smile.

"I dig the rock. Being a rock-star would be my dream if there weren't any shinobi." He said, as Kakashi brought out three scroll-summoned dinners. He really knew how to treat three teens.

"Any bands really?" Sasuke asked.

"It changes a lot, but I really like the Red Hot Chile Peppers, and there was this one song by a punk band called Yellowcard. I like that one song 'City of Devils'. I like the Rolling Stones, too." He said. "What do you guys like?"

Sakura answered first. "Well, I like Fergie and the Black-eyed Peas. Oh! And JT". (Justin Timberlake, noobs xD)

Naruto and Sasuke cringed inwardly, but didn't express it or even toss each other a glance. No taking chances with a girl and her temper.

"I like jazz, and a little blues." Sasuke said. "Buddy guy is my favorite."

Without looking up at his team, Kakashi smiled softly. This conversation proved their teamwork was becoming better. He joined his team in the conversation, not revealing his tastes, or anything important or even about him for that matter.

The team shared lots of laughs that night, and they began to recognize that they weren't pinned up with such bad people after all. Sasuke and Sakura had begun to tell where Naruto was coming from just by the way he talked; they could tell he didn't really live up the 'loser' title he'd acquired in the academy. Maybe that's why Sasuke had talked to him back then; he was always an observant kid anyway, Sakura pondered.

The next morning, Naruto awoke to an interesting site. It was a dark day out, the clouds were black; and they seemed ready to let out the immense amount of water held inside. The trees swayed in the rather strong winds that day, as well. Leaves rustled on the ground, and the roaring of the winds awoke Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi. They silently packed, and began to move on, wherever Kakashi lead them.

Trees, trees, and more trees… It seemed like a familiar scene to Naruto that day. He wasn't adjusting to his terrible view of just trees. He missed the sun, and longed for it to come out and brighten the day. Naruto gazed up at Kakashi, who then stopped, without an obvious cause. He pulled his headband up, so that each eye was visible. Then he cocked his Sharingan eye, and stared off into absolutely nothing, as Naruto and Sakura concluded, upon waiting for their instructor to speak. Sasuke seemed drawn to it as well; his eyes were blinking red as he looked where Kakashi looked.

"You guys can't see this, Sakura, Naruto… But there's an immense twister in the direction that I'm looking. It almost looks like it's right on… Konohagakure- "Kakashi was cut off by the roaring of the wind. Sasuke could tell he was right, he squinted and his eyes picked up the movement of the storm. He instinctively was ready to counter, as his Uchiha blood suited his Sharingan to combat. Sasuke clenched his fists, yet made no action. His eyes didn't hurt anymore, but they could feel the power about to surge into them, when one day his clan's power would flow into him.

"Sensei, what does his mean?" Sakura asked, referring to the squad's plan of action.

"The assignment is canceled; we're shifting into a rescue mission. You know the formation." Kakashi stated grimly, and hopped off at a faster pace than ever, with the youngsters desperately trying to keep up. With each passing moment, Naruto's temper slipped closer to blowing, he couldn't watch his hometown like this.

The team continued at this rapid pace for three hours, which at this time Sakura simply couldn't continue, and as she collapsed, Naruto screeched, emitting an ungodly noise that normal humans aren't supposed to emit. His eyes were drenched with blood, and he almost looked like an animal.

"_Dammit all!" _he growled as he grabbed Sakura and Sasuke, who looked quite startled by his teammate's appearance. Naruto crouched low, as his sensei continued to sprint home, and he bolted like no other. Straight home, through trees, out of a path, just straight home, Naruto dashed. Kakashi kept up, too. The two sprinted home, and within the hour, they had arrived.

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Just as Naruto had passed through Konoha's gates, he felt drained of all energy, and his appearance returned to that of a normal human's. He slumped down, and collapsed on the ground, out cold. The weather here was intense; the wind was extremely strong, the sky was an eerie shade of green and purple. Kakashi gestured for Sakura to take Naruto and run away, and set up camp.

"Sakura, take these. At exactly 10:00 PM tonight, use them. We will come." Kakashi told her, handing her a package. Sakura was confused, but didn't waste any time taking Naruto off to safety. He'd just hauled some major ass for her, at a breathtaking speed, too. Grabbing her fallen comrade, she too hopped off away from Konoha, and back into the forests.

_These are…!!!_ Sakura's eyes opened wide and she sighed in relief.

Sasuke meanwhile, with Kakashi, staggered to the center of the village to witness their beloved Hokage. It was quite a challenge to get there in the midst of the storm. They saw that Sandaime wore a battle helmet, with his headband straps loosely flying in the wind. He was dressed in a tight black suit, with no indication that was Hokage. And with one knee on the ground, he didn't look like he was in fighting shape. Across from him, about twenty feet, was a figure dressed in all black, and wore a white mask to hide his face.

Kakashi's eye opened wide, drawing the scene in his mind. Sasuke ran in from behind him.

_Sasuke, this is for your own good…_

Pain

That was all that could be felt by Sasuke, prompted by darkness. The darkness grew and grew until he couldn't see, and then he gave up, and passed out.

Kakashi grabbed Sasuke, who was out cold.

_This wave of killing intent, I have to leave now… everyone could be killed._

Sweat dripped on Kakashi's face, and his nerves were tingling with animosity, threatening to eat him alive if he could do nothing.

Slowly, Kakashi turned, and began to tiptoe away, and he masked his chakra to help him. He took one step, before the mysterious figure with the white mask was standing right in front of him. He entered too swiftly, it was like he was here at one moment, and gone the moment before. In that same second he appeared, Kakashi found himself unable to breathe; the figure's hand was at his throat, and he clenched it, strangling the jounin. Kakashi's eyes bulged, and this was it. He couldn't take it. So he panicked, and released his breath, before his eyes slowly closed into darkness…

That was until the hand released its grip, and Kakashi slumped to the ground, gasping for air. Sasuke lay next to him, still out. His heaving was very audible, and he suspected that was why they were detected.

Kakashi didn't bother to look up, instead he lay there with his eyes shut, and he didn't dare to move. The cold ground was a nice alternative to the burning sensation in his lungs he had previously while he couldn't breathe.

The figure with the mask looked down at his victim, and then grunted.

"I guess it can't be helped." He spoke softly, audible to Kakashi.

Kakashi opened his visible eye, as the man started to walk off. He was about to close his eye, when he noticed someone walking behind him. Then came a sensation on his back; a large hand rested on his shoulder.

_Sakura, I hope you've opened that box…_

The hand brought it's male body to the head of Kakashi, and the male whispered into his ear.

"Kakashi, it's been a while, and I hope you haven't forgotten me. Everything will be alright." Kakashi knew the voice… It was the voice of Minato's sensei!

"…Jiraiya-sama…" Kakashi croaked. He felt Jiraiya's hand place a pill into his mouth. He swallowed instinctively.

Suddenly, he felt totally rejuvenated. It was a soldier pill! Kakashi smirked, and began to pull himself up. Reaching his knees, Jiraiya assisted him, and brought him up. Kakashi dusted himself off, and looked at his savior.

"Thank you" He smiled.

"Hehe, don't mention it."

Kakashi looked around, and took in his surroundings. The entire ground was brown, not a single blade of grass in site. A deep fog surrounded them all, and he couldn't tell where he was at all.

"Sandaime…how is he?" Kakashi asked, his voice strained.

"Sensei?" Jiraiya asked. "He's here?"

Jiraiya looked behind him, and sure enough, he saw his teacher, lying on the ground, with a pool of blood under him. Jiraiya sped over to him, and then pulled out a kunai. He stabbed it down just in front of his teacher, and right then a young woman with blond hair, a green jacket, and sandals appeared behind him.

"Sensei! Jiraiya!" She said. Kakashi noticed she sported some very large breasts.

"Tsunade! Please! Help him!" Jiraiya pleaded. At once, the woman named Tsunade raced through many seals, forming a jutsu unknown to Kakashi. She placed her hands on the Hokage, and green chakra enveloped him.

He stirred, and he grunted. Then he began to swear. The old man still had no sense of decency, Jiraiya noted.

Tsunade flipped him over on his back, and continued with healing him. Jiraiya looked on fearfully, he had very sickening wounds, and his bones were sticking out of his body in the oddest fashion. All of his ribs were sticking straight up into the sky, and his lungs were quite visible. A long streak of blood oozed out of his mouth, and much, much, more

poured out from his chest.

"This is it for me… So don't worry. I've been around for a long time as it is. I've been around for a very long time, and the village needs a new leader." The eldest man croaked.

"Jiraiya, Tsunade, I wish for the best for you two, you were my first team. It was great, the memories we shared. We had a grand time." He began to smile.

"Tell Orochimaru this, if you meet him again." His mouth stopped moving, and no sound could be heard. He lay there with his eyes opened, and Jiraiya could not feel his chakra signature.

"SENSEI! DON'T DO THIS!" he yelled out. He smashed his fist into the ground, and began to shake slightly.

Tsunade began to weep, and her bouts were audible to all present. The two sannin lay there, unmoving.

Then suddenly, Jiraiya jerked up, and called out.

"GET BACK HERE! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" he pointed to the man in the cloak, who turned, and laughed.

He adjusted his mask, and then said to them. "Fine, if you see it fit.

Kakashi looked at the man, and then removed a kunai from his pouch.

-Flashback-

"_So, this is our first day of missions. I have something here for each of you three, so use them well. These kunais will make all of us return to the same location of the one that used it. This will work, as long as you all sign the blood contract, here." Kakashi finished._

_The three signed their names in blood under Kakashi's, and he put away the scroll._

-End Flashback-

There was a cloud of smoke, and then Kakashi saw three figures that were about as tall as Sasuke. One was Sakura, who still held Naruto in her arms.

The third was a little bit taller than both of them. The figure had short hair, and wore blue pants, exactly like Kakashi. He had an undershirt that he was wearing and a head band from the Rock Village on his forehead, with two slashes through it.

"Hello sensei, did you need me?" He asked.

The man with the mask laughed, and answered calmly.

"No, but I do want you to get some killing experience. The leader always could use stronger ninja.

The conscious ninja each were puzzled by this statement, save Jiraiya.

"You're form Akatsuki, aren't you." He stated without the implication that he asked a question.

Again, the mysterious man chuckled. "That's not something I'll tell you, old man. But, I must say, you're 'sensei' was pretty weak, for all he was hyped to be." Jiraiya growled, and a menacing frown formed on his face.

"And thank you for that one's brother." The mystery man pointed at Sasuke.

Meanwhile, Sakura lay down Naruto, and removed two kunai. She nodded at her sensei, and he nodded back. They'd talk about this situation later.

She tied up her hair, and clicked her heels to remove a set of weights. And then she was gone, and the new boy with the undershirt had a knife sticking into him.

Kakashi smiled. His student was getting better. She'd really done something that he hadn't thought she could do.

Meanwhile, the boy that was stabbed sliced in half, revealing a rock. He wasn't there at all. Sakura quickly stepped back, looking around, and not seeing anyone near here.

"Is that really all you've got?" the boy's voice called.

"Hell no!" Sakura shouted back, full of fire. She quickly found the boy in front of her, and he was beginning to attack. She put out her arms to defend, and then so did he. The two of them began to send punches and kicks back and forth at each other, dodging in between. Not either of them could land an attack, until Sakura changed the pace, and leg-swept him, forcing him to jump to avoid. He'd only gotten about a foot off the ground when a lighting-speed right hook crashed right into his face. He fell down to earth, landing on his feet.

Sakura took this opportunity to unleash a flurry to high-speed punches on the boy, until he squirmed away. He hopped to his feet, and planted a kick straight through her defense, catching her off guard. Then, he raced through his own seals, panting slightly.

"Lighting Release! Lightning Strike jutsu!" He called out and began to point his index fingers at Sakura, which shot lighting streaks out at her. She maneuvered away in time, just before he began to throw many at her, and she was forced to bring forth her new speed. Quickly bolting straight to the boy, she jabbed a kunai at him.

She stopped, and her eyes opened wide. She saw his hand hold the kunai, stopping any momentum she had from attacking. The next thing she'd remember was very odd; he snapped it in half with three fingers.

"This has gone on too long. I've over estimated you." The boy stated. His hand lurched out at her neck, and she too was strangled. He only gripped harder and harder, and Sakura squirmed with all her might to break free. She kicked, but he held her up so that she only kicked air.

Panicking, she cried out loudly. "NARUTO, SASUKE!"

And then, he grabbed his own kunai, and ran it straight into her gut. He took it out, and ran it through her shoulder. She moaned in pain, for she had no air to scream. Her world was spinning, and she was ready to throw up, when he launched one more attack, He slipped his kunai at her throat!

"This is it!" He called out, and ran it by her throat, or so he thought. He was halted by something he had not expected.

A boy he didn't recognize was right next to him, holding his hand with Sakura. He squeezed so hard, that he let go immediately, and Sakura slumped to the ground. He also noticed another boy in his other side, holding his hand with the knife in it.

The boy on his left wore an orange jumpsuit, and there was a huge amount of killing intent radiating from him. He sported long claws, thick whispers, and red eyes. The boy holding the knife slowly backed away, as the other boy let go of his arm.

The boy that previously held his knife-holding arm was dressed in a white undershirt too, and he had khaki shorts on. His eyes were also completely red, with three tomoes in each eye. There was less killing intent from him.

He noticed the first boy was hunched over, standing on all fours, and the boy with the tomoes was poised for taijutsu.

"You must be Naruto and Sasuke, who she called for?" the boy asked.

Naruto growled very loud, and a deep voice could be heard. Not the voice of a thirteen year-old.

The other boy was the one who answered.

"What did you do to Sakura?" he asked loudly, his eyes shot open, and his temper flared.

"It's a battle, you fool. This kind of thing happens. Did you just assume that nothing happened when you were out cold?" he answered with a howl of laughter.

It was Naruto this time, who answered. Well, he really didn't; but he charged straight at the boy with much, much more speed than Sakura had, and clutched his throat.

"YOU…." A deep voice bellowed from within Naruto

The boy looked at Naruto, utterly afraid. He was lifted into the air, and he lay motionless.

"YEAH, WELL JUST KILL ME ANYWAY! SEE WHAT HAPPENS!" he yelled, with a smile and his eyes wide.

Naruto did just that, he sent a punch through his entire body. He gave him a left hook that went through his stomach, and exited on the other side. Then, with his other hand, he squeezed slightly at his throat, and his claws caused him to bleed.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi wouldn't forget what happened next. Naruto set the near-dead boy down, and ripped out his throat.

And then he howled, like nothing anybody present had ever heard before.


	10. Big Announcement!

Hey everyone Just wanted to touch base. I've been really lax on updating, I know. I've been busy, and recently I've been able to add in time segments to write. I'm sorry, but I've got some good/bad news.

I'd like to announce that this story will be **re-written **from the beginning. I started this story a very long time ago in my life, I was a much different person. I'm still happy to write a story, but I want to make it the best it can be, so I'm starting over.

New Story will be something like this:

1. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura will still be the main characters

2. It will have **much** more detail and description, and will overall just be a better piece of work in my opinion.

3. It will have more advanced and deeper forms of thinking and situations this time. I've matured since I started the old story, and I need to start over.

There is sooo much more to write here, but I can't spoil anything. This first chapter will be up soon, updates (hopefully) frequent, seeing as spring break is in a month, with much time to write then, and summer's around the corner. Please! Tell everyone this story is back, I really love reviews and readers, you mean so much to me. The story will have a new name, too. So when it's out, search for this:

Chronicles of Passion

I'll also try to add a little note on Backside of the Rose to notify when chapter 1 is posted.

Please, forgive me if you really enjoyed this story. I'm willing to make amends with this story, though.

See y'all soon!

PS- email me at if you're interested in being my editor, I can't find one anywhere, and one would be really appreciated. I'll obviously tell you the whole plot, and any info you want. But you can't or tell anyone reading it. That's the only thing I require, along with a pretty decent knowledge of writing and desire to help.

Goldenstrike


	11. Chapter 11

UPDATE – CHRONICLES OF PASSION IS NOW ON I'm just starting to write chapter 2 :D (Update – February 19, 2008)

Hey everyone Just wanted to touch base. I've been really lax on updating, I know. I've been busy, and recently I've been able to add in time segments to write. I'm sorry, but I've got some good/bad news.

I'd like to announce that this story will be **re-written **from the beginning. I started this story a very long time ago in my life, I was a much different person. I'm still happy to write a story, but I want to make it the best it can be, so I'm starting over.

New Story will be something like this:

1. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura will still be the main characters

2. It will have **much** more detail and description, and will overall just be a better piece of work in my opinion.

3. It will have more advanced and deeper forms of thinking and situations this time. I've matured since I started the old story, and I need to start over.

4. Also, I'm not going to make increments of when I'm posting. When I'm struck with inspiration, I'll write. I'll tell you if the fic's off, but if there's nothing new for even a long time, email me to get my update.

There is sooo much more to write here, but I can't spoil anything. This first chapter will be up soon, updates (hopefully) frequent, seeing as spring break is in a month, with much time to write then, and summer's around the corner. Please! Tell everyone this story is back, I really love reviews and readers, you mean so much to me. The story will have a new name, too. So when it's out, search for this:

Chronicles of Passion

I'll also try to add a little note on Backside of the Rose to notify when chapter 1 is posted.

Please, forgive me if you really enjoyed this story. I'm willing to make amends with this story, though.

See y'all soon!

Goldenstrike


End file.
